A new world record wind gust: 253 mph in Australia's Tropical Cyclone Olivia

The 6,288-foot peak of New Hampshire's Mount Washington is a forbidding landscape of wind-swept barren rock, home to some of planet Earth's fiercest winds. As a 5-year old boy, I remember being blown over by a terrific gust of wind on the summit, and rolling out of control towards a dangerous drop-off before a fortuitously-placed rock saved me. Perusing the Guinness Book of World Records as a kid, three iconic world weather records always held a particular mystique and fascination for me: the incredible 136°F (57.8°C) at El Azizia, Libya in 1922, the -128.5°F (-89.2°C) at the "Pole of Cold" in Vostok, Antarctica in 1983, and the amazing 231 mph wind gust (103.3 m/s) recorded in 1934 on the summit of Mount Washington, New Hampshire. Well, the legendary winds of Mount Washington have to take second place now, next to the tropical waters of northwest Australia. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has announced that the new world wind speed record at the surface is a 253 mph (113.2 m/s) wind gust measured on Barrow Island, Australia. The gust occurred on April 10, 1996, during passage of the eyewall of Category 4 Tropical Cyclone Olivia.

Tropical Cyclone OliviaTropical Cyclone Olivia was a Category 4 storm on the U.S. Saffir-Simpson scale, and generated sustained winds of 145 mph (1-minute average) as it crossed over Barrow Island off the northwest coast of Australia on April 10, 1996. Olivia had a central pressure of 927 mb and an eye 45 miles in diameter at the time, and generated waves 21 meters (69 feet) high offshore. According to Black et al. (1999), the eyewall likely had a tornado-scale mesovortex embedded in it that caused the extreme wind gust of 253 mph. The gust was measured at the standard measuring height of 10 meters above ground, on ground at an elevation of 64 meters (210 feet). A similar mesovortex was encountered by a Hurricane Hunter aircraft in Hurricane Hugo of 1989, and a mesovortex was also believed to be responsible for the 239 mph wind gust measured at 1400 meters by a dropsonde in Hurricane Isabel in 2003. For reference, 200 mph is the threshold for the strongest category of tornado, the EF-5, and any gusts of this strength are capable of causing catastrophic damage.

Why did it take so long for the new record to be announced?The instrument used to take the world record wind gust was funded by a private company, Chevron, and Chevron's data was not made available to forecasters at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) during the storm. After the storm, the tropical cyclone experts at BOM were made aware of the data, but it was viewed as suspect, since the gusts were so extreme and the data was taken with equipment of unknown accuracy. Hence, the observations were not included in the post-storm report. Steve Buchan from RPS MetOcean believed in the accuracy of the observations, and coauthored a paper on the record gust, presented at the 1999 Offshore Technology Conference in Houston (Buchan et al., 1999). The data lay dormant until 2009, when Joe Courtney of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology was made aware of it. Courtney wrote up a report, coauthored with Steve Buchan, and presented this to the WMO extremes committee for ratification. The report has not been made public yet, and is awaiting approval by Chevron. The verified data will be released next month at a World Meteorological Organization meeting in Turkey, when the new world wind record will become official.

New Hampshire residents are not happyResidents of New Hampshire are understandably not too happy about losing their cherished claim to fame. The current home page of the Mount Washington Observatory reads, "For once, the big news on Mount Washington isn't our extreme weather. Sadly, it's about how our extreme weather--our world record wind speed, to be exact--was outdone by that of a warm, tropical island".

One of the key causes of tsunami is underwater earthquake of sufficiently large magnitude. However, not all underwater earthquakes with large magnitudes produce tsunamis. December 2004 Sumatra earthquake produced one of the deadliest tsunamis while March 2005 Sumatra earthquake, which has comparable magnitude and similar epicenter, did not result in the formation of any major tsunami. The generation of tsunamis with significant magnitudes is a complex phenomenon as its mechanism is strongly linked to fault structure and rupture mechanism. The frequency content of the seismic signal may provide a clue to the tsunamigenic nature of the earthquakes. Seismic wave (4000-6000 m/s) travels 20 to 30 times faster than tsunami wave (200 m/s). Thus, a tsunami prediction based on seismic signals instead of tsunami waves could deliver warning without much time delay. This study investigates the method of predicting tsunami by analyzing the frequency content of the seismic waves and relating it to the possible mechanism of tsunami generation. This paper presents the result of a research study which uses the method of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to extract the frequency components from the seismograms of a number of tsunamigenic and non-tsunamigenic earthquakes. The results indicate that tsunamigenic earthquakes have higher amplitude in the low frequency range (f < 0.15 Hz) and lower amplitude in the high frequency range (f = 0.15-0.3 Hz) compared to the non-tsunamigenic earthquakes. The observation supports the proposed mechanism of slow fault rupture in view of the long period nature of the tsunamigenic earthquakes. The frequency content of the seismic signal was also explored with Wavelet Analysis. These techniques, which utilizes frequency component of the seismic signals, have a great potential to be an effective component of the Tsunami Warning System, which at present mainly relies on the magnitude and location of earthquake as the determining factor in predicting the generation of tsunami.

Coral ReefOften called “rainforests of the sea”, coral reefs form some of the richest and most diverse ecosystems on earth. They occupy less than one percent of the world ocean surface, about half the area of France, yet they provide a home for 25% of all marine species, including fishes, molluscs, echinoderms and sponges.[1]

Paradoxically, coral reefs flourish even though they are surrounded by ocean waters that provide few nutrients. They are most commonly found at shallow depths in tropical waters, particularly in the Pacific Ocean, but deep water and cold water corals exist on a much smaller scale.

Coral reefs deliver ecosystem services to tourism, fisheries and shoreline protection. The annual global economic value of coral reefs has been estimated at $30 billion. However, coral reefs are fragile ecosystems, partly because they are very sensitive to water temperature. They are under threat from climate change, ocean acidification, blast fishing, cyanide fishing for aquarium fish, overuse of reef resources, and harmful land-use practices. High nutrient levels such as those found in runoff from agricultural areas can harm reefs by encouraging excess algae growth.Most coral reefs were formed after the last glacial period when melting ice caused the sea level to rise and flood the continental shelves. This means that most coral reefs are less than 10,000 years old. As coral reef communities were established on the shelves, they built reefs that grew upwards, keeping pace with the rise in sea level. Reefs that didn't keep pace could become drowned reefs, covered by so much water that there was insufficient light for further survival.[3]

Coral reefs are also found in the deep sea away from the continental shelves, around oceanic islands and as atolls. The vast majority of these ocean coral islands are volcanic in origin. The few exceptions have tectonic origins where plate movements have lifted the deep ocean floor on the surface.

In 1842 Charles Darwin published his first monograph, The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs.[4] There he set out his theory of the formation of atoll reefs, an idea he conceived during the voyage of the Beagle. His theory was that atolls were formed by the uplift and subsidence of the earth's crust under the oceans.[5] Darwin’s theory sets out a sequence of three stages in atoll formation. It starts with a fringing reef forming around an extinct volcanic island as the island and ocean floor subsides. As the subsidence continues, the fringing reef becomes a barrier reef, and ultimately an atoll reef.

As an example of how coral reefs have formed on continental shelves, the current living reef structure of the Great Barrier Reef began growing about 20,000 years ago. The sea level was then 120 metres (390 ft) lower than it is today.[8][9] As the sea level rose, the water and the corals encroached on what had been the hills of the coastal plain. By 13,000 years ago the sea level was 60 metres (200 ft) lower than at present, and the hills of the coastal plains were, by then, continental islands. As the sea level rise continued most of the continental islands were submerged. The corals could then overgrow the hills, forming the present cays and reefs. The sea level on the Great Barrier Reef has not changed significantly in the last 6,000 years,[9] and the age of the present living reef structure is estimated to be between 6,000 and 8,000 years.[10] Although the Great Barrier Reef formed along a continental shelf, and not around a volcanic island, the same principles apply as outlined by Darwin's theory above. The Great Barrier Reef development has stopped at the barrier reef stage, since Australia is not about to submerge. It has formed the world's largest barrier reef, 300–1000 metres (330-1100 yards) from shore, and 2000 kilometres (1200 miles) long.[11]

Healthy coral reefs grow horizontally from 1 to 3 centimetres (0.39 to 1.2 in) per year, and grow vertically anywhere from 1 to 25 centimetres (0.4–12 in) per year; however, they are limited to growing above a depth of 150 metres (490 ft) due to their need for sunlight, and cannot grow above sea level.

Locations

This map shows areas of upwelling in red. Coral reefs are not found in coastal areas where colder and nutrient rich upwellings occur

Darwin's ParadoxDuring his voyage on the Beagle, Darwin described tropical coral reefs as oases in the desert of the ocean. He reflected on the paradox that tropical coral reefs, which are among the richest and most diverse ecosystems on earth, flourish when they are surrounded and supported by tropical ocean waters that provide hardly any nutrients. It has been a challenge for scientists to explain this paradox.

Coral reefs cover just under one percent of the surface of the world’s ocean, yet they support over one-fourth of all marine species. This huge number of species results in complex food webs, with large predator fish eating smaller forage fish that eat yet smaller zooplankton and so on. However, all food webs eventually depend on plants, which are the primary producers. And the primary productivity on a coral reef is very high, resulting in a typical biomass production of 5-10g C m−2 day−1.[25]

Tropical waters are often described as crystal clear. This is because they are deficient in nutrients and drifting plankton. The sun shines year round in the tropics, warming the surface ocean layer so it is less dense than subsurface layers. The warmer water is separated from the cooler water by a stable thermocline, where the temperature makes a rapid change. This keeps the warm surface waters floating above the cooler deeper waters. There is little exchange between these layers. Organisms that die in aquatic environments generally sink to the bottom where they decompose. This decomposition releases nutrients in the form of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. These nutrients, N, P and K, are necessary for plant growth, but in the tropics they are not directly recycled back to the surface.[7]

Plants are the base of the food chain, and need sunlight and nutrients if they are to grow. In the ocean these plants are mainly a type of plankton, microscopic phytoplankton which drift in the water column. They need sunlight for photosynthesis, which powers carbon fixation, so they are found only in the surface waters. But they also need nutrients. Phytoplankton rapidly use any nutrients in the surface waters, and in the tropics these nutrients are not usually replaced because of the thermocline.[7]

Climate ChangeAny rise in the sea level due to climate change would effectively ask coral to grow faster to keep up. Also, water temperature changes can be very disturbing to the coral. This was seen during the 1998 and 2004 El Niño weather phenomena, in which sea surface temperatures rose well above normal, bleaching or killing many coral reefs. High seas surface temperature (SSTs) coupled with high irradiance (light intensity), triggers the loss of zooxanthellae, a symbiotic algae, and its dinoflagellate pigmentation in corals causing coral bleaching. Zooxanthellae provides up to 90% of the energy to the coral host. Reefs can often recover from bleaching if they are healthy to begin with and water temperatures cool. However, recovery may not be possible if CO2 levels rise to 500 ppm because there may not be enough carbonate ions present.[61] Refer to Hoegh-Guldberg 1999 for more information.

Warming may also be the basis of a new emerging problem: increasing coral diseases. Warming, thought to be the main cause of coral bleaching, weakens corals. In their weakened state, coral is much more prone to diseases including black band disease, white band disease and skeletal eroding band. If global temperatures increase by 2 °C, coral may not be able to adapt quickly enough physiologically or genetically.[62] It has been estimated that, in order to counter the threat of ocean acidification through global warming, a reduction of up to 40% of current emissions is needed, and up to 95% by 2050. This requires emission reductions larger than the reductions currently proposed for these dates by the EUhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coral_reef

Cold killed numerous Keys manatees, bleached large stands of coral Frigid waters in the Keys during this month's record cold snap killed manatees and corals, in addition to untold numbers of fish, biologists say.

"This is an unprecedented event as far as the Keys marine environment is concerned," said Billy Causey, southeast regional director for the National Marine Sanctuaries Program.

"This one will do down in the history books," Causey said. "We'll be cleaning up after this one for quite some time."

Seven dead manatees were found in Upper Keys waters between Jan. 18 and 22, part of a record 107 manatees killed statewide from Jan. 1 to 23.

The 107 dead manatees nearly doubles the previous record of 56 manatee deaths in a single month, set in January 2009.

Biologists with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reported that 77 deaths are directly attributable to "cold stress," and several others likely died as a result of the cold.

"Any time the water gets below 60 degrees, manatees don't do well," said Mary Stella of the Dolphin Research Center on Grassy Key. "It was colder tan that for a long time."

Meanwhile, shallow-water corals near shore and in mid-channel patch reefs have suffered from one of the worst cold-water bleachings ever recorded, Causey said.

No winter coral bleachings since a 1977-78 incident -- when huge stands of staghorn coral were wiped out -- have been as severe, Causey said.

"So much of the coral that bleaches in a cold-water event dies," Causey said. "In warm-water bleachings, the coral suffers but it has a chance to recover if conditions improve."

Divers from The Nature Conservancy and Mote Marine Laboratory will join state and federal staff in a concentrated effort over the next two weeks to assess the damage to South Florida's corals.

"We saw a lot of very recent mortality, especially on the mid-channel and nearshore reefs," said Cory Walter, director of the BleachWatch program from Mote's Lower Keys facility.

"The cold seems to have affected all species equally, though we'll know more after we get reports from this wider monitoring effort," Walter said after Mote surveys off Summerland Key and Big Pine Key.

"The offshore reefs seemed to be faring better," she noted.

Causey said the Florida current apparently carried enough warm water into the reef to moderate temperatures there. "We had reports from dive operators that the water was very clear so that means the Florida current was washing in and acting like great big thermostat," he said.

This year's record cold in mid-January lasted nearly twice as long as the deadly 1977-78 event, Causey said. "That was about three days," he said. "This one was a week to 10 days." http://www.keysnet.com/news/story/182314.html

Continued foul weather slows evacuation of stranded tourists in PeruA weather alert has been issued for southern Peru, which has received record rainfall over the past three days, according to the Peruvian national weather service.

More rain is expected through Friday, though less than what's already drenched the region. A state of emergency has been declared in southeastern Peru, which includes Machu Picchu, according to Javier Velasquez, the president of Peru's Cabinet.

Machu Picchu is the ancient Incan city on a mountain in the Andes, standing nearly 8,000 feet -- 2,340 meters -- above sea level in a tropical mountain forest.

I had just done the same thing and it was dreadfully slow, but I had been doing some major copying across my little Belkin 54G. So I restarted everything and then COULDN'T connect to anything. Skype worked so I had connectivity. Finally connected and did this.

I've been empathizing with AstroHurricane001 - He has complained (more than once) about Texas getting more snow than where he lives in Ontario. I'm in SW Michigan. We got a couple of feet of snow earlier this month but most of it melted with the recent rain/thaw. I'm happy to see it snowing again. We get a lot of lake-effect snow here.

The timing of the new snow is great. I'm a volunteer at Fernwood Botanical Garden and we are taking local school kids on a hike in the woods on Friday to look for and identify animal tracks. (Predicted high is 17F - better dig out my long underwear.)

So you're saying it takes 100,000 years to regrow a forest? Just seeking a little clarity...

Yes - and i was refering to rainforest, which acts as earth lungs. (part of the Biogeochemical_cycle)The forest wiki has an overview of the diffrent kinds of forest types.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest

though it is quiet complex, as we have a big specie diversity in the forest - rainforest. This interactions between the diffrent cycles take a considerable time to form. Though it is possible to grow forest faster - but the biodiversity and the full force of biogeochemical factors take a much longer time to form.

Because ecology deals with ever changing ecosystems, both time and space must be taken into account when describing ecological phenomena.[9] In regards to time, it can take thousands of years for ecological processes to mature. The life-span of a tree, for example, can pass through different successional or seral stages leading to mature old-growth forests. The ecological process is extended even further through time as trees topple over and decay.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology

BiogeochemistryEcologists study and measure nutrient budgets to understand how these materials are regulated and flow through the environment.[2][65][126] This research has led to an understanding that there is a global feedback between ecosystems and the physical parameters of this planet including minerals, soil, pH, ions, water and atmospheric gases. There are six major elements, including H (hydrogen), C (carbon), N (nitrogen), O (oxygen), S (sulfur), and P (phosphorus) that form the constitution of all biological macromolecules and feed into the Earth's geochemical processes. From the smallest scale of biology the combined effect of billions upon billions of ecological processes amplify and ultimately regulate the biogeochemical cycles of the Earth. Understanding the relations and cycles mediated between these elements and their ecological pathways has significant bearing toward understanding global biogeochemistry.

The ecology of global carbon budgets gives one example of the linkage between biodiversity and biogeochemistry. For starters, the ocean is estimated to hold 40,000 Gt carbon, vegetation and soil is estimated to hold 2070 Gt carbon, and fossil fuel emissions are estimated to emit an annual flux of 6.3 Gt carbon.[159] At different times in the Earth's history there has been major restructuring in these global carbon budgets that was regulated to a large extent by the ecology of the land. For example, through the early-mid Eocene volcanic out gassing, the oxidation of methane stored in wetlands, and seafloor gases increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations to levels as high as 3500 ppm.[160] In the Oligocene, from 25 to 32 million years ago, there was another significant restructuring in the global carbon cycle as grasses evolved a special type of C4 photosynthesis and expanded their ranges. This new photosynthetic pathway evolved in response to the drop in atmospheric CO2 concentrations below 550 ppm.[161] Ecosystem functions such as these feed back significantly into global atmospheric models for carbon cycling. Loss in the abundance and distribution of biodiversity causes global carbon cycle feedbacks that are expected to increase rates global warming in the next century.[162] Global warming melting large sections of permafrost creates a new mosaic of flooded areas where decomposition emits methane (CH4). Hence, there is a relationship between global warming, decomposition and respiration in soils and wetlands producing significant climate feedbacks and alters global biogeochemical cycles.

Ecosystem services and the biodiversity crisisEcosystems of planet Earth are coupled to human environments. Ecosystems regulate the global geophysical cycles of energy, climate, soil nutrients, and water that in turn support and grow natural capital (including the environmental, physiological, cognitive, cultural, and spiritual) dimensions of life. Ultimately, every manufactured product in human environments come from natural systems.[189] Ecosystems are considered common-pool resources because ecosystems do not exclude beneficiaries and they can be depleted or degraded.[196] For example, green space within communities provides common-pool health services. Research shows that people who are more engaged with regular access to natural areas have lower rates of diabetes, heart disease and psychological disorders.[197] These ecological health services are regularly depleted through urban development projects that do not factor in the common-pool value of ecosystems.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecology

How long does it take for a rainforest to grow?Best Answer - Chosen by VotersMost current old growth forests are millions of years old. However, it only takes maybe 60 years, at the very least, for a forest to regenerate from a clear cut state. This forest would be in an early successional stage and probably would take more like 100-200 years, on average, to become a "rain forest". Please note that the regenerating forest will be marked different from the old growth in dominant forest species and the wildlife it supports.http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080909025330AAwsLlv

Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions setting minimum normal annual rainfall between 1750–2000 mm (68-78 inches). The monsoon trough, alternately known as the intertropical convergence zone, plays a significant role in creating Earth's tropical rain forests.

From 40 to 75% of all species on Earth are indigenous to the rainforests.[1] It has been estimated that many millions of species of plants, insects, and microorganisms are still undiscovered. Tropical rainforests have been called the "jewels of the Earth", and the "world's largest pharmacy", because of the large number of natural medicines discovered there.[2] Rainforests are also responsible for 28% of the world's oxygen turn over, often misunderstood as oxygen production,[3] processing it through photosynthesis from carbon dioxide and storing it as carbon through biosequestration.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainforest

Thought this was a neat contraption. Could be used for relief efforts in many places in the world:

The Hippo Water Roller Projecthttp://www.hipporoller.org/

[This is in no way to be construed as advising anyone anywhere how or where to send their charity donations. That is completely up to each individual or family. I just thought it showed creativity and elegance in its simple design.]

Well, you are also limited by the local network; if you're hard wired to standard cabling then you;re likely never going to see more than about 80mbps in bound, given line noise and other users on your network...if you have gigabit wiring, more like 350mbps...if you;re wirless, you;re likel;y going to be stuck at 48 true

Ahhh, but we have fiber optic NICs and switching we could use...

Even more fun, our HPC system, currently building, has QDR Infiniband...40 Gbit/s and ~140 nanosec latency...

Quoting atmoaggie:I wish we could get the other tenants in our building to along with re-enabling one of the OC-48s. We have 2. (Ex-DoD satellite comms building)

That would be nice. ~2.5 Gbits/sec...though my real speed would be dictated by what is at the other end of the internet, wherever I may be.

I am told that myspace only has one.

Well, you are also limited by the local network; if you're hard wired to standard cabling then you;re likely never going to see more than about 80mbps in bound, given line noise and other users on your network...if you have gigabit wiring, more like 350mbps...if you;re wirless, you;re likel;y going to be stuck at 48 true

I had just done the same thing and it was dreadfully slow, but I had been doing some major copying across my little Belkin 54G. So I restarted everything and then couldn't connect to anything. Skype worked so I had connectivity. Finally connected and did this.

C:\>tracert www.wunderground.com

Tracing route to www.wunderground.com [38.102.136.104]over a maximum of 30 hops: